Graduation and Expulsion
by MintySinty
Summary: The Scholomance, well known for its necromancy classes, is a bit lesser known for education in dodging the onslaught of the Argent Dawn.
1. 01 Escaping the Argent Dawn

"Invaders!" The call rang out through the halls of Scholomance, echoing against the low stone ceilings and dank corridors ridden with mold. The secretive school was cluttered with books, tables, and papers, all of them references for the forbidden study of necromancy. As the warning call was cut short, the students gathered themselves into groups, ready to repel whatever foes had decided to prey upon their work. Spectral instructors floated lazily among them, checking to make sure everything was in order before the threat reached them. Novice students huddled in the lecture hall under the watchful dead eyes of the skeletal mage Vectus, listening to his lecture despite the threat outside the room. The students were there to learn, not be intimidated by the ever-present Argent Dawn.

Beyond the lecture hall, down a hall, and through a door of wrought iron, a student looked up from his surgery project, Ras Frostwhisper's dead gaze staring down on him. Nick glanced up at the lich. "Continue on, student." Nick looked back to his work, asking his assisting group members to pass him various instruments. Frostwhisper watched with interest. "Tell me, student, what is the purpose of creating such a needlessly complex abomination?"

Nick glances up momentarily. "The purpose of my design, aside from the donor's personal wishes, is to create a killing machine capable of infiltrating strongholds of the enemy for reconnaissance and sabotage."

Ras nodded. "An intriguing endeavor, but ultimately pointless. Continue on." The lich floated towards the door, listening intently to the sounds of battle echoing faintly through the halls. There had been many attacks before this, but the lich was uneasy. Something about the number of death cries compared to the number of screeches of indignation wasn't right. He turned to look back at the group working on their project. "Finish quickly." Nick nodded and sewed the final opening shut, closing the stomach's skin.

The man on the slab opened his eyes, glowing bright blue. He sat up, looking to Nick. Nick grinned wide and gave him two thumbs up. The man rolled his eyes, sliding off the slab. The distant memory of modesty caused him to catch the sheet covering his lower half, standing ready for inspection. Ras floated over, looking over the stitch work. "Good... Impeccable, even. You may be worthy of recommendation for service in Naxxramas." Nick beamed proudly. "So, abomination. Speak."

The man nodded, his long, elven ears wavering slightly. "I exist only to serve."

"Impressive." The lich nodded his approval. "You and your team will all be recommended to Kel'thuzad." The elf started dressing, strapping his armor on and picking up his runeblade. Ras picked up the assignment sheet, written on moth-nibbled parchment. "Nick. Note the name of your subject." Nick clenched his jaw and took the parchment, quickly scribbling a name down before handing it back. Ras nodded. "Allidar Duskwatch of Fairbreeze Village?" He glanced to the elf, who nodded. Ras looked back to the sheet. "A million elves in the Scourge. If I had flesh to compare, I'd comment." He folded the parchment. "Now, go see what the racket is. Any more noise and it will rattle my candles off their candelabras." Nick bowed respectfully, his team and subject following suit. Ras let out a raspy hiss. "Just go already."

The group hurried out of the room, closing the iron gate behind them. Nick grinned wildly. "Passing! And such a recommendation! Hah!"

Alli smirked. "Naxxramas. Hopefully you did a good enough job to get me in as well."

The group continued on through the lecture hall, hushed to avoid disrupting the ongoing lecture about the proper feeding of plagued dragon hatchlings. Reaching the exit, Nick leaned over a bit to peek through the metal gate. A heavily armored paladin met his gaze and pointed, alerting his fellows of the group. Nick quickly leaned away from the door, looking to his fellows with startled eyes. Alli raised a brow, following as the student hurried into the lower levels.

As they left the lecture hall, he finally spoke up. "Alright. So. Everyone's dead, it seems." Alli raised a brow.

Another in the group, a female student, threw her hood back and tugged down her scarf. "What? Who?"

"Everyone I could see. They're burning the books, too." Nick shrugged. "Saw plenty of materials laying around on the floor, though."

Alli furrowed his brows. "Materials? What about-"

"That's what I mean. Materials. Scrap. Dead without a chance of being raised without reassembly."

The girl frowned. "So what, though? This has happened before."

Nick shook his head. "Yes, but before, they haven't gone on book burning sprees. I wasn't sensing a lot of latent thought, either. They're trying to full-on cleanse." Nick paused at the top of the stairs in the vault, looking to the various rooms scattered about. "Alright. You, go get the volumes guarded by Polkeit." One of the group left as instructed. Alli raised a brow. "You, go check to see what Alexi has in his chamber."

"Nick, what are you-"

"You, go ask Lady Illucia, and you talk to Malicia." As the group dwindled to just Alli and Nick, the elf grabbed the necromancer's arm. "Nick, what the hell are you-"

Nick looked up at him with a stern expression. "I'm taking steps to ensure our school's survival. Come on." He hurried down the steps, Alli following close behind.

"You don't think you're overreacting a bit?"

Nick shook his head.

"But no one else is panicking."

Nick nodded. "That's because they don't think it's a problem! They're wrong, Alli."

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

"Human instinct?"

"You could say that." Standing before the side of the staircase, Nick set his hand against the stone wall, activating a network of runes and revealing a magically hidden door. He looked around, beckoning the others over as they returned bearing books. "In here, in here. Get the books in, just stack them by the wall or something."

Alli watched the cultists hurry into the hidden room, shifting his jaw. "So what if you're wrong, eh? What happens then?"

Nick shrugged. "Then I guess I'll just be wrong and explain myself later."

"It'll throw your recommendation, won't it?" Nick paused, thinking for a moment. He shook his head, stepping into the room. Alli followed. "Think about it, though. What if you're over reacting? At the first sign of danger, you decided to turn tail and flee-"

"Allidar, I'm not over reacting!"

Alli raised his brows, lifting his hands in surrender. "Fine. You're right. Where will we go, anyways?" Nick closed his eyes, concentrating. A glowing circle began to float in midair, a void growing in size. Alli stared at the portal, then switched his gaze back to Nick. "Anywhere, then?"

"Anywhere but here."

"Please tell me you have an actual plan-" A stack of books suddenly tumbled down the stairs, a spray of blood following before a student's corpse rolled down. Golden light flashed into the room from above, spreading a brilliant, burning fire for an instant before dying out. Alli yanked his runeblade from its scabbard, charging up the stairs. It seemed a pair of the Argents had splintered from the group to scout the area. Alli quickly sized up his opponents. A priest, dressed in white and lightly armored. Easy to cut down, but dangerous if left alone to throw his holy fire around. Another, an elven mage, lightly armored as well but covered in a light layer of frost. A protective spell, but a weak one.

After the instant it took for him to take in his view of the enemies, he had flown up the stairs, sword at his side and driving forth like a lance. The priest began to back up, the mage stepping in front of him. Luckily, the mage was waifishly thin and easy to shove aside, allowing Alli to drive his blade through his chest. Following through, he slammed the priest to the floor, tearing his sword from the man as he passed onward, hitting the wall opposite the door to stop his momentum. The mage's expression was twisted in grief and rage, arcane sparks flying from her hands. Alli rebounded, charging at her next. She would release her spell and hit him head-on, stopping him before he could make much of a difference in the matter. At the last moment, he sidestepped, a bolt of energy flying past him. Lowering himself, he grasped at the floor momentarily to make a tight turn and slam the woman against the wall, lifting his free hand to her head. Her eyes widened and slowly fell shut as he blasted her mind with the cold of the frozen north, leaving her alive but unconscious. He smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck to carry her down the steps on his back.

Nick looked up from the portal, his eyes widening. "What the-"

"If nothing else, we have a prisoner. Don't argue." He tossed the girl to the ground, checking the floor. The books were still piled high around the room.

Nick nodded quickly, looking back to the stairs and whistling sharply. All but one of the students hurried back down, bearing more books. "Alright, carry them through, as many as you can at a time!" Obediently, the group followed his orders, passing books through the portal as fast as possible. The clatter of armor drew Allidar's attention back to the stairs. Again he ran up, coming face to face with a paladin wielding a hammer and shield. He knew better than to even try standing up to this one. Thinking quickly, he summoned up the power of his remaining runes, throwing up a thick wall of ice in the small doorway.

He ran back down. "Nick! More company!" Nick nodded, looking to his remaining dead classmate. With a moment's concentration, Nick lifted his hand, calling the fallen student back to his feet. He pointed up the stairs. The dead man lumbered over to the stairs. A chunk of ice flew down, striking him hard in the head and knocking him off his feet. "Damnit!" Alli readied himself. "Get the prisoner out. I'll hold them off!"

Nick frowned, pulling the mage onto his back. "The portal will close soon. Don't waste-" Nick winced as an arrow flew past him and struck the wall. "Yeesh!" He hurried into the portal, leaving Alli to the attackers.

The paladin stood at the front, a troll wielding a bow standing behind him. The paladin stepped closer, clearing his throat. "Tell me where our teammate is."

Alli glared at him. "What, that pathetic excuse for a sorcerer? Dead."

"Liar. If she were dead, you'd have raised her to fight."

Alli grinned. "Smart man. She's good as dead, though. Perhaps you should worry more about the one I -did- kill, though..." At the flick of Alli's hand, the paladin's eyes widened, a groan sounding behind them. The troll turned swiftly, his aim dead set on the priest shambling towards him. Alli gave a mocking salute to the paladin, stepping back through the portal, the paladin's angry cry ringing in his ears


	2. 02 Badlands

"Alright, let's see, what did we manage to get?" Nick bent down over the pile of books on the cracked, red earth, sorting through each tome. Allidar stepped through the portal just as it closed, quickly gaining his footing before he could slip on the slick pages of a book. "Alli! Watch where you step, please!"

The death knight blinked down at the ground, nudging the book away with his foot. He stared at the red dust seeping between the cracks of drought-scarred earth, lifting his gaze to the surrounding landscape. Curling lashes of dust raced across the ground, billowing before either dispersing in scrubby bushes and cacti or stopping abruptly upon striking tall rock formations. "Nick… Where the hell did you bring us?"

"Nevermind that! We need to get these books out of the elements!"

"Please tell me we're still on Azeroth."

"Of course we are." Nick pulled up a stack of books and shoved them into Allidar's arms, patting the one on top before whirling around to grab another stack, his colleagues doing the same. "Now, come on. Can't have a library out in the wind!" The other students lifted their own stacks of books, struggling to carry the heavy tomes of dark knowledge. "Onwards and upwards!" The junior necromancer stared out into the vacant landscape for a moment, his enthusiasm fading slightly as he began to realize the situation he had put his fellow students in. There were no structures in sight. No signs of civilization to greet them, much less any of their Scourge brethren. Allidar's previous concern echoed in his head. Truly, the only way he knew they were still on Azeroth-well, aside from knowing his own abilities-was by the looks of the scant flora of the desert. He swallowed hard, shifting the weight of his stack of books to one hand in order to fasten his scarf in place, pulling his hood up as well.

"Nick," one of the female students called worriedly, "maybe we should head back. I don't think-"

"No." He shook his head. "Jen, if we go back, we'll likely get a face full of holy hammers and swords and whatever other holy artifacts they brought with them."

"Then what are we doing here?"

"We are -escaping-, of course!" He turned around, careful to adjust to keep from dropping the tall stack of books in his arms onto the ground. "We'll stay away while the others clean up the rest of the Argent Dawn forces, then we'll make our way back!" Alli glanced down at the ground, spotting the mage he had grabbed during the escape. Red dust spattered her light blue robe, patted across her face like a lady's powder. He frowned, realizing she would need to be carried as well. The elf bent down, reaching to take hold of her robe's collar. The stack of books in his arm toppled, spilling across the ground. "Aw, Allidar, what's the matter with you?!"

"You want them? You carry them." He dropped the books completely, picking up the mage and carrying her on his back.

"But you're the strongest one here," Jen noted. "I mean, if anyone should be carrying them, it's you."

He sighed, dropping the mage carelessly to the ground. "Fine. But only if there's some sort of destination in mind." Alli looked to Nick, raising a brow at the necromancer. "So… Do we have one yet?"

Nick bit his lip for a moment behind his scarf, nodding. "Yes. Yes, we're going to… Uh… Back up." The other students blinked and backed up, watching behind Allidar with worry. Allidar blinked a few times before he felt a rough grab for his ponytail yanking him back, fire blazing inches from his face.

"You there. Necromancers. Drop the books." The students glanced between themselves, carefully placing the books on the ground. "Tell me where I am or I torch all your hard work, death knight." The mage's voice was low and threatening, but strained and tired. Alli quickly analyzed the situation. She didn't seem to have much physical prowess, but he assumed she could more than make up for it in magical destruction. The students and books were in her sights and would be easy to immolate with a twitch of her wrist.

Alli slowly raised his hands in surrender. "Take it easy. You appreciate knowledge, right?"

"You mean guides on the subjugation of the innocent?" Her words struck out like angry sparks. "I think I'll make an exception."

The students watched, frozen in place. Alli nodded slightly to them. "Alright… Give up. She's got us." He grinned.

"That's right. Now tell me-" The death knight swiftly struck back with his elbows, shoving the mage back and breaking her concentration on the fire in her hands. While the fire huffed angrily as it dispersed, he spun around, backhanding her with a plated fist. A sigh of relief spread through the group of students as the mage fell to the ground, dazed. She weakly lifted a hand, attempting to conjure her fire again, but suddenly froze, her eyes going wide. Slim tendrils of shadow slid around her head, entering her eyes and disappearing, shifting her glowing green eyes to a purple hue. Alli looked back to the group. Jen, a girl of shining blond hair and brown eyes narrowed in concentration, channeled a spell on the mage, apparently binding her in place.

Nick chuckled, softly applauding. "Great work, Jennifer! An excellent solution!" The students watched as the mage slowly pushed herself to her feet, turned to the books, and carefully wove a spell around the piles of books, halving their weight through the world-altering power of the arcane. Nick raised his brows, grinning wide behind his scarf. "Ooh! And an excellent plan, to boot!" The students gathered up the lightweight books, murmuring their pleasure at the ease at which they could now carry them. Nick pulled his scarf down, yanked off one of his gloves, and licked his finger, holding it to the wind. After a moment's thought, he pointed in a direction. "Alright! Onwards and upwards, everyone!"


	3. 03 Red Dust

It seemed luck had decided to smile upon the students. As they trudged through the red desert, they stumbled upon a broken down wagon, left abandoned. As the students turned the wagon upright, they found it to be only abandoned somewhat; as the wind threw itself against the dust covering the ground, it revealed a horse skull, the rest of its skeleton buried deep in the ground. As the only mechanically-inclined students in the group, Gary and Joseph set about repairing the wagon, pulling off their surgical robes to wrap the books up and keep them protected.

Nick squatted down before the horse skull, inspecting it carefully. "Picked clean. No flesh left on this one…" He grinned wide, looking to Alli. "You know? I don't think the buzzards even bothered it much! I think the dust did all the work!" Alli grunted, leaning against a short rock formation. His eyes remained closed, protecting them from the dust being kicked up into them. Nick looked back to the skull, still grinning. "Fascinating…"

Jen looked on, sitting on the covered stacks of books, her enslaved mage settled on the ground alongside her, mirroring her pose. Her brows pinched together in concentration, fighting to remain in control of the mage. A small sound of discomfort left her, drawing Alli's attention.

"Having trouble?" He opened one eye to look at her, still squinting.

"No… Not much…" She bit her lip as she looked up at him. Being a human girl of rural birth, she had never seen elves until she had joined the Scourge. My, they were fascinating, though. It seemed every line on an elf's body only served to accentuate how mythically beautiful they were. Allidar, though he had been raised into undeath and surgically enhanced in many ways, retained that fairy tale elven beauty. She couldn't bring herself to think of him as handsome. That was a word for men of more chiseled shapes and rougher skins. He was beautiful in the way that a violin was, covered in lovely curves and rich colors. Perhaps if she had met him outside the Scourge, she could have gotten to know him, maybe even started seeing him. Maybe-

"Then don't whimper like that." He closed his eye, tilting his chin down as he waited for the group to be ready to progress once more. Jen frowned. The mage continued to fight her control, but with a quick, painful jab at the woman's mind, she was silenced into submission.

"I don't think that goes there."

"Yes, it does."

"Joe, seriously, that's part of the wheel."

"Then why does it fit in the yoke, eh?"

Gary and Joseph continued to fuss over the wagon, its repair slow and laborious without proper tools. The two had managed to find a rock to use as a hammer, but a wrench was nowhere to be found. Still, the day still managed to have its merits. Nick had successfully brought the horse skeleton into glorious undeath, though its body remained trapped under the sand. He set about digging with his hands, attempting to free the unhappy beast. The horse let out a somewhat whistling whinny through its empty nose. "Shh-shh, now just wait a moment!" Nick continued digging, trying his hardest to unearth it. The ground fought back, having been compacted nearly into sandstone. "Allidar, help me dig this horse out!"

Alli glanced over, squinting. "You're sure that thing isn't too brittle?" He strode over, kneeling down to take a look at the horse, taking it by its shiny, white nose. Slender cracks reached along its skull, hinting at a distressing existence in the heat of the desert. As Alli inspected it, the horse stared back, its empty sockets aglow with two small points of necromantic energy.

"Of course not! Despite the heat, I believe there is enough moisture trapped inside its bones to grant it stability! You see, though the land is arid, there's always some manner of water reserved under the surface. There are bushes and trees nearby that prove this."

As Nick talked on and on about the particulars of desert water accumulation, Alli found himself caught in the horse's gaze, staring back into its "eyes." An airy snort flew through the horse's nose cavities, billowing red dust. He couldn't quite place it, but for some reason, he felt some manner of familiarity with the beast. Neither he nor the horse wanted to be in this arid land. Nick had brought the horse into the undead fold, something the animal couldn't possibly understand the enormity of. But it knew of family, of herds and paddocks, of training and hardship. Alli frowned, giving the horse's nose a pat. He bent down to start digging at the animal's front legs. The horse laid its skull against his cloaked back, awaiting freedom.


End file.
